Hi HN,

I’ve been working on Gaming Couch, a web-based game platform where up to 8 players use their smartphones as controllers to play real-time action mini-games on a central browser screen.

TL;DR:

- 18 competitive mini-games for up to 8 players

- Runs entirely in the browser

- Phones act as controllers (no apps, no accounts required)

- Focused on fast, chaotic, real-time party games (no trivia)

- Currently in public early access

Try it here: https://gamingcouch.com. Open the link on a computer, host a session, scan the QR code with your phone(s) and play!

What is it?

Gaming Couch is a party game platform where friends play short competitive action games together on one screen, using their phones as controllers (there's also support for physical gamepads if that's more your thing!)

I intentionally avoided trivia and text-heavy games. Many people don’t write or read English fluently, and I wanted games where reaction, timing, and chaos matter more than spelling.

It’s currently in early public access with 18 mini-games, all made by me and a two friends. All game rounds last ~1 minute, scores carry over, and after each round players vote on the next game. If you’re solo, 3 games support bots, but it’s best with a full couch of people as half the fun comes from the social aspect of playing together!

Why I built it:

For the last 15+ plus years, me and my friends have loved video game nights but organizing them has always been a PITA when you have more than 4 people playing:

- Different games were under different Steam accounts requiring downloads and installation.

- Extra controllers were missing (somebody forgot to bring theirs) or they wouldn’t pair.

- Consoles were expensive and not always available if we were on the road.

Once I started building it, other dev friends asked if they could make games for it too, which led me to realize this could also be a platform for small party games, especially for gamejam devs who don’t want to or have time to build multiplayer infrastructure from scratch. This is why supporting third-party games is the next major feature I’m working on.

Tech stack:

- Games run locally in the host’s browser (no streaming of games)

- Phones connect via WebRTC to the host session (1–10ms latency in ideal conditions with P2P connection)

- Fallback to TURN when direct P2P connection isn’t possible e.g. due to strict firewall settings in corporate networks or use of VPN's

- Website/Platform made with React + TypeScript

- Existing games made with Unity or just plain JS/TS.

- Backend: Supabase (Postgres + auth only, currently only used for optional user accounts)

How is it different from e.g. Jackbox, Airconsole or Nintendo?

Jackbox is absolutely great, but it’s heavily dependent on English literacy and "being funny" on the spot. I wanted something focused on fast, chaotic, real-time action games that work even if your friends speak different languages or just want to smash buttons. Also, I'm not a fan of their party pack model...

AirConsole is the most well known comparison to Gaming Couch in terms of technology and execution, but I feel there is a gap for a curated experience where the UI is unified, rounds are 60 seconds, and the competitive "meta-game" (scoreboards/voting) is baked into the platform. And in any case AirConsole was acquired by a car-software company and have pivoted their focus from couch gaming toward in-car entertainment.

Nintendo games are usually the gold standard in the party game category but the HW and games cost so much! With Gaming Couch, I want to keep the accessibility threshold as low as possible so everyone is able to play without upfront HW or SW costs.

What do you think of this? Are you an interested player or perhaps a developer who has had an idea to develop a fun 8 player mini-game but has been daunted by the idea thus far?

user:	bart__
created:	April 13, 2020
karma:	49